Safety-guard for railroad-bri dges



(No Model) v .3 Sheets-Sheet 1.

J. E. GHILDS.

- SAFETY GUARD FOR RAILROAD BRIDGES.

Patented A u .21, 1888. 5

(No Model.) 3 Sheets-SheetZ.

J. E. OHILDS.

SAFETY GUARD FOR RAILROAD BRIDGES. N0. 388 22. P nte 11g. 888.

u. PEYERS. nawmum. Wllhlngim o1;

(No Model.-) 3 Sheets--Sheet 3.

" J. E. OHILDS.

} SAFETY GUARD r011 RAILROAD BRIDGES. No. 388,122;

Patented Aug. 21, 1888.

W &0? v I XW 6%;4 f V Ira UNITED STATES PATENT FFICE.

JAMES E. GHILDS, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO \VILLIAM J. MORDEN, OFCHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

SA FETY-GUARD FOR RAlLROAD-BRI DGES.

' SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 388,122, dated August21, 1888.

(No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, JAMES OHILns, a citizen of the United States,residing at New York, in the county of New York and State of New York,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Safety-Guards forRailroad Bridges, of which the following is a specification, to wit:

This invention relates to an improvement in railroad'bridge guards; andit consists in certain peculiarities of the construction and arrangementof the same, substantially as will be hereinafter more fully set forthand claimed.

In order to enable others skilled in the art to which my inventionpertains to make and use the same, I will now proceed to describe itsconstruction and operation, referring to the accompanying drawings, inwhich- Figure 1 is a perspective View of my device as applied to abridge,and Fig. 2 is a plan view of one end of a bridge and its approachwith my invention in use. Fig. 3 is a perspective view designed to showthe rerailing devices in detail and their relation to the track-rails.

a represents a railroad-bridge of any suit able or desirableconstruction, and a the track laid'over the bridge in the usual manner.

Many fatal accidents occur at railwaybridges by the accidental derailingof one or more trucks or cars at a greater or less distance from thebridge, and by a gradual lateral movement the derailed cars are broughtinto position to strike the end of the bridge and carry it off itsabutments by the shock, thereby destroying not only the derailed cars,but also all the others with which they may be connected.

The object I have in view is, first, to provide a means for breaking thecoupling and cutting out the derailed cars before reaching the bridge,if they are so far oil the track as to be in a position to strike thebridge; and, second, to return them easily and gradually to the track ifthey are not so far out of line. I do this as follows:

1) represents a pai r of strong and heavy guardrails, laid one upon eachside of and parallel with the track across the bridge and as far beyondthe ends of the bridge as maybe deemed desirable. I have herein shownthese guards as formed of heavy oak beams; but they may appear in Fig.2.

I also provide the track with a rerailing device consisting of a pair ofplates, 0, which are situated at the ends of the bridge, or as near thatpoint as is deemed advisable, and, as in the drawings, it will be seenthat these rerailing plates should be at or near the smaller ends of theexpanding throat oft-he side guards. These plates 0 extend upon bothsides of the main-track rails and are inclined upwardly from their reartoward their forward ends, or, in, other words, are inclined upward inthe direction in which a train is to pass. The incline upon the innerside of the main-track rail rises rapidly to a height just sufficient tolift the wheel-tread even with the top of rail, and the outsideinclinelifts to the top of rail-head in order to carry the outer wheel-flangeover the rail, as will be at once understood. From the plates 0 a pairof guard-rails, c,are secured to the ties and extended some distance intheir rear to apoint in the center of the track, as in Fig. 2.

In use, a derailed truck approaching the bridge is engaged by the sideguards, b,or their inclined ends, and is gradually forced over towardthe track till its inside wheel is engaged by the inner guard-rails,c,which continue to draw the truck-wheels back to their proper positiontill they are carried up and onto the main rails by the inclined plates0, and the car is carried across the bridge and onward in safety.

Should the car he too far in a lateral direction before approaching theguard for its truck to be properly acted upon by the side guard, it isengaged by the post b and the coupling broken and car stopped before itreaches the bridge or can injure it. In this wayit will be seen thatcomplete safety from accident upon the bridge is had.

In Fig. 1 have shown a single-track road having this guard at both endsof the bridge, because trains run in both directions upon the sametrack; butin doubletrack roads it is only necessary to provide guards atthe end first approached by the train, as will be understood at once.

Having thus fully described my invention,

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In asafety-guard for railroad-bridges, the combination, with thebridge and the track laid upon it, of a pair of parallel guards arrangedbeside the track and having their ends flared apart and provided withposts or stops in line

